Undergarment in the form of a girdle and method of making the same



Dec. 7, 1943. CLARK 2,336,222

UNDERGARMENT IN THE FORM OF A GIRDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAMEFiled- June 12, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 7, 1943. D. M. CLARK2,336,222

UNDERGARMENT IN THE FORM OF A GIRDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME FiledJune 12, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l r I Patented Dec. 7, 1943 UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE UNDERGARMENT IN THE FORM OF A GIR- DLE AND METHODOF MAKING THE SAME David M. Clark, Worcester, Mass., assignor to DavidClark Company, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of MassachusettsApplication June 12, 1940, Serial No. 340,037

6 Claims. (01. 66-176) The present invention relates to a combinationgirdle and underwear shirt especially adapted for use by both men andwomen and the invention is particularly applicable to a one-piecegarment of this character, the bottom section of which incorporateselastic thread and. the top portion of which incorporates conventionalinelastic threads.

Within the last few years, the use of girdles or similar restraininggarments especially by men has become increasingly popular, butinvariably these garments have the serious objection that the waistbandhas a tendency to curl or to bind, and thereby make the wearer veryuncomfortable. It has also been practically impossible to devise agirdle as such which will remain comfortably in place on the wearer,especially if he is active, as the necessary reenforcing stays placed inthe garment to prevent curling interfere with any bending movements. Theprincipal object of the present invention is to provide a one-piecegarment having a girdle bottom section and a shirt top section which isfree from any seams at the junction of the girdle and shirt, and whichwill eliminate the objections to the conventional girdle by alwaysholding the top securely in position to prevent the garment from workingdown.

In the manufacture of combination garments of this character, theproblem of knitting both the top and bottom sections as a single piecehaving elastic threads incorporated in the girdle section, but havingthe top section entirely free of elastic threads, has been unsolved,since a single machine could not continue to knit a satisfactory andattractive fabric if the elastic thread were eliminated. Moreover, inall garments havin; elastic threads incorporated by knitting, there is atendency for the knitting to run, thus damaging the garment, or atendency for the elastic thread-to pull out, with resultant runs andalso failure of the elastic thread to perform its function. One of thefeatures of the present invention is a unitary one-piecegarment,'utilizing the same type of knitting and the same threads inboth the top and bottom sections, with the elastic thread knitted intothe portion of the garment forming the girdle, but omitted from theremainder. Although the elastic is integrally knitted intothe fabric, itis not an essential part of the knitting itself, and the remainder ofthe garment may be knitted in the same machine without afiecting thesatisfactory appearance of the finished fabric.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention willappearfrom the following deinsertion of an elastic thread by laying itinto scription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Fig. l is a front" elevation of a garment embodying theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the garment of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary diagrammatic view showing thearrangement of the knitting in both the top and bottom parts of thegarment.

With reference to the drawings, the garment has a knitted girdle sectionI in which elastic threads are incorporated, and a knitted shirt section2 integrally united with the girdle section and free of elastic threads,so that this portion of the garment exercises substantially norestraining action on the wearer. The shirt section is stretchable tothe extent that any knitted fabric is stretchable to assure a good fit.To the bottom of the girdle section is attached a pouch 3 der straps I 0provide for holding the upper edges of the garment in position, theelasticity of these strips permit-ting freedom of movement of the wearerwithout uncomfortable pulling on the shoulders, and permitting thegarment to accommodate varying heights.

One of the principal features of the garment is that the girdle portionI and top portion 2 are integrally knitted so that there is no seam ofany kind at the junction of these two portions which is normallyapproximately at the waist line. To accomplish this it has beennecessary to produce a knitted fabric in a portion of which elasticthreads are knitted, and in the remainder of which the elastic threadsmay be omitted without in any way leaving an incomplete fabric.

Thus, while the elastic threads in the girdle pore tion are integrallyknitted into the fabric, they are not an essential part of the fabricand during the knitting of the garment the elastic thread may bediscontinued at any point. This incorporation of the elastic thread inthe fabric by knitting the thread is in contrast to the well known thefabric between successive courses, to the extent that the knitting in ofthe lastic thread provides for a stretch of the garment in directionsboth lengthwise and crosswise of the wales. Thus, in the present garmentthe girdle section in which elastic thread is incorporated is a twowaystretch fabric being stretchable both crosswise and lengthwise of thegarment, and this stretchability is obtained by the particular manner ofknitting in the elastic thread.

One form of knitting which has been found especially adaptable formaking a garment in accordance with the present invention is shown indetail in Fig. 3. With reference to this figure, alternate coursesconsist of inelastic threads H and I2 and the intervening courses ineach case of elastic and inelastic threads. The threads i3 and M are theelastic and inelastic threads in one course, and the threads l5 and iiiare the elastic and inelastic threads of a subsequent course. .In theparticular embodiment shown, successive wales are formed alternately .onthe back and front of the fabric, the fabric shown being made on acircular knitting machine, and thus alternate wales a, c, a and c' areon the back of the fabric and the intervening wales b, d, b and d are onthe face of the fabric.

In the particular arrangement of knitting. the pattern is repeated witheach set of four wales and also with each set of four courses. so that ashort portion of the fabric only need be described. The dot-dash line inFi 3 represents the ortion of the garment above which the elasticthreads are omitted and below which the elastic threads are inte rallyincorporated into the fabric. This particular fabric forming the girdlesection of the garment and the method of kni t n this portion isdescribed in the conend ng Clark appl cation. Serial No. 261,199 filedMarch 11. 1939. since issued as Patent No. 2.250.359. dated July 22.1941:: the present invent on ut lizes this ty e of knitting or anysimilar type of knitting which w ll obtain the results above outlined.For the purposes of this invention. the ty e of knitting shown isutilized only by wav of example and it w ll be rea d ly understood thatother types of knitt ng accompl shing the same results may be utilized.Considerin each of the threads separately as it is knitted into thefabric. the thread H is knit ed or looped in alternate wales, being inthis particular instance knitted in wales a and c. In Wale at thisthread has a tucked loop forming a part of a tuck stitch. In wale b theloop formed is not immediately en aged by the thread of the subsequentcourse and forms the held loo of a tuck stitch, and as will hereafterappear, the thread l2 has a tucked loop in this wale forming a, part ofthe same tuck stitch.

The following course is made up of an elastic thread l3 and theinelastic thread M. The elastic thread I3 is looped or knitted in onlyone of each of four wales, being looped in wale d and unknitted in theother three wales in each set of four. The inelastic thread of this samecourse is knitted in the same wale as is the elastic thread, beingknitted in wale d. and is also knitted in certain of the other wales, asin wales a and c. This thread is, however, unknitted in certain of thewales, as in wale b, so that it is inefiect laid-in in these wales. I

The thread I! of the following course is incorporated in the fabric inthe same way as the thread ll, except that the tucked loop is in wale brather than in wale d to form a part of the tuck stitch of which thethread II also forms a part.

This thread in wale d has a held loop forming part of a'tuck stitch.This loop passes through and holds the loops in both the elastic andinelastic threads l3 and I4 01 the preceding course.

The following .course consists of the elastic thread [5 and theinelastic thread It. The elastic thread I5 is looped in wale b which isin a different wale from the loop in the preceding elastic thread i3,and this elastic thread 15 is unknitted in the other three wale a, c andd of the set of four wales. The inelastic thread 16 of this course isknitted in the wale b with the elastic thread and is also knitted inwales a and 0, but is unknitted in wale d, being laid in in this wale.Thus the loops in the elastic thread I5 and inelastic thread |6 areformed in alternate wales from the loops of the threads l3 and M.

The pattern now repeats itself and the following course consists of aninelastic thread II which is treated in exactly the same way as thethread I i.

In the drawing the elastic or girdle portion of the garment is shown asending at this point and the course following the inelastic thread I lcomprises the inelastic thread 14', the corresponding elastic thread l3having been omitted. The thread I4 is looped in wales a, c and d as isthe thread l4. By this arrangement the fabric still remains a completefabric not subject to runs even though the elastic thread has beenomitted and without otherwise changing the manner of knitting in any waywhatever. Thus the entire garment may be knitted continuously on asingle knitting machine which has thereon a provision for severing theelastic thread at the point where it is discontinued and reinserting itin the knitting at the beginning of the next garment.

The particular knitting shown or any similar knitting of the elasticthread effectively ties in the end of this thread so that in use thereis no tendency for the elastic thread to pull endwise through theelastic fabric. Even if it should do so to a minor degree, however, thefabric being complete without the elastic thread, will still present thesame appearance as above and there will be no objectionable runsoccurring. The section in which the elastic thread or threads occurs hasa stretch in two directions imparted thereto by the knitting in of theelastic thread, and this thread also adds to the quantity of material inthe garment so that the girdle portion in the finished garment hassomewhat of a flare, as shown in Fig. 1. The shirt portion however, onthe other hand, being entirely of inelastic thread, presents the sameappearance and has the same texture as the conventional type of knittedunderwear-shirt.

By the arrangement of an integral top portion for the girdle, the latterhas its upper edge held securely in position and any curling or rollingover is entirely prevented. At the same time, any tendency for thegirdle to creep downward is opposed by the short portion and shoulderstraps. Likewise, any tendency for the girdle to creep upwardly isopposed by the detachable pouch. Machines adapted for knitting thegirdle portion of the garment are also adapted for variations in theparticular arrangement of the stitches, and it will be understood thatthe shirt portion of the garment may be knitted with variations in theinelastic thread stitches to provide a shirt fabric having asatisfactory appearance and shape. selection of tuck stitches and theomission of stitches in selected courses and wales, well within It willreadily be apparent that the the capabilities of the machine, willprovide variations in the appearance oi. the fabric without, however,requiring any interruption in the continuous knitting of the garinent.

Where it is found desirable the garment has a central section I! ofvarying height, in which some of the elastic threads are retained,although the remainder are omitted. This is shown in the drawings whereone half of the elastic threads are omitted over the central section,prior to the omission of all the elastic threads in the shirt section.This arrangement is frequently advantageous in providing a small amountof restricknitting in the fabric in spaced wales only of se-' lectedcourses and in which an inelastic thread is knitted in the same Wale andcourse where the elastic thread is knitted, whereby the fabric is vcomplete without the elastic thread, and a shirt tion at the waist, thisrestriction being considerably less than in the girdle section.

I claim:

1. A combination girdle and shirt of knitted material having a girdlesection in which elastic threads are incorporated by knitting in spacedwales of selected courses, a top shirt section free from elastic threadsand integral with the girdle bottom section, said top shirt sectionhaving elastic shoulder straps, and a pouch attached to the lower edgeof the girdle section.

2. An undergarment in the form of a continuous knitted fabric comprisinga girdle section in which elastic threads are incorporated. in thefabric by knitting in spaced wales only of selected courses, and a shirtsection knitted integrally with said girdle section and free from anyseam connecting the sections, said shirt section being free from elasticthreads.

3. An undergarment in the form of a continuous knitted fabric comprisinga girdle section in which elastic threads are incorporated in the fabricby knitting in spaced wales only of selected courses, and a shirtsection knitted integrally with said girdle section and free from anysection knitted integrally with the girdle section and free from elasticthread.

5. In the manufacture of a combination girdle and shirt having a girdlesection and a shirt section integral therewith, the steps, which involveknitting both sections of the garment in a continuous operation, andincorporating during the knitting, elastic threads in the girdle sectiononly, said elastic threads being knitted with certain of the inelasticthreads making up the garment in spaced wales only of selected courses.

6. In the manufacture of a combination girdle and shirt having a girdlesection and a shirt section integral therewith, the steps which involveknitting both sections of the garment in a continuous operation, andincorporating during the knitting, elastic threads in the girdle sectiononly, said elastic threads being knitted with certain of the inelasticthreads making up the garment in spaced wales only of selected courses.whereby the elastic threads are not an essential part of the knittedstructure, the elastic threads being omitted during the knitting of theshirt section.

DAVID M. CLARK.

